686 SYMPTOMS PRODUCED BY JACKSON’S PARIETO-COL1C MEMBRANE.

of Amsterdam. Hence it was that in July of thisyear the President of the Ophthalmological Societyof the United Kingdom, Mr. Walter H. H. Jessop,called a meeting to consider the matter. Attend-ance at the meeting was necessarily by invitation,but the greatest care was taken by Mr. Jessop, inconsultation with other prominent ophthalmo-logists, to ensure that the gathering should bethoroughly representative of all parts of the BritishIslands. The result was that negotiations were seton foot to incorporate the three existing journals ina new journal, to be called The British Journalof Ophthalmology. These negotiations proved mostsuccessful, and in order to carry out the scheme ameeting, to which all British ophthalmologists wereinvited to attend, was held at the Royal Society ofMedicine on Sept. 20th. At this meeting a limitedliability company was formed, and so far as the ’,financial arrangements are concerned the success ofthe venture is already fully assured. It is proposedto commence the publication of the new journal inJanuary, 1917, and from that date the Royal LondonOph thalmic HospitaLReports,theOphthabmicReviezv,and the Ophthalmoscope will cease to appear. Thenew journal will be edited, under the supervisionof an editorial committee, by Mr. Stephenson,with the help of an assistant editor. Thereare obvious reasons why a period of national

upheaval may appear ill-fitted for undertakingnew responsibilities, but such reasons under closeexamination will not prove so cogent as their

primâ facie appearance warranted. Though indi-viduals perish, the national life flows on and willcontinue to flow. The effects of to-day are thecauses of to-morrow, and thus we, the inheritorsof the past, are the guardians of the future. Arevolution is a great opportunity for progress,and we feel assured that the ophthalmic surgeonsof our nation, limited though their special spheremay be, are rightly actuated in thus making a boldeffort to strengthen the foundations upon whichthey and their successors may the more firmlybuild.

SYMPTOMS PRODUCED BY JACKSON’S PARIETO-COLIC MEMBRANE.

THE part played by bands or adhesions in thecausation of abdominal symptoms is still unsettled.In the Medical Journal of Australia Mr. C. E.Corlette has reported the following case which isimportant, as the symptoms were definitely shownto be due to Jackson’s membrane. A girl, aged19 years, was seen for severe pain in the right sideof the abdomen. The attack had lasted for twodays, but for the past six years or more the

patient had pain in the same situation almost con-stantly. At various times acute exacerbationsoccurred. These attacks lasted several days, andhad been diagnosed as appendicitis by her medicalattendant, who recommended operation. All herlife she had been subject to obstinate constipa-tion, frequently requiring enemata. Examina-tion showed her to be a well-developed, well-nourished girl of wholesome colour. The abdo-men was of normal appearance, but palpa-tion showed an area of marked tenderness atand a little above McBurney’s point, with the rightrectus muscle on guard. The temperature wasnormal, and the pulse-rate 96. There was nonausea or vomiting during the existing attack,though she had sometimes vomited during previousattacks. A provisional diagnosis of appendicitis

was made and the abdomen was opened. Therewas a very large csecum distended with semi-solidfsBces. Just above the caecum the ascending colonwas narrowed and bound to the right side of theabdomen by a stout, broad pericolic membrane(Jackson’s membrane), taking origin from theparietal wall just above the incision. It wasevident that this was the cause of the trouble.There was a small peritoneal fold at theileo-caecal junction ; apparently it was not im-

portant. The appendix appeared to be normal.

Appendicectomy was done, then the ileo-caecal bandwas released, and afterwards the large band incar-cerating the ascending colon was dealt with. Thisleft the colon free and unhampered. Next day shewas free from pain. For a few months after opera-tion she continued to suffer a good deal fromconstipation, necessitating enemata at various times.Liquid paraffin relieved the constipation. However,her condition was greatly improved. The painreturned at times, but this, too, was obviously less.The symptoms became less and less, and finallydisappeared. She has now for nearly two yearsbeen quite well. But another change was

even more striking. Although she was physicallywell developed before operation, her mentaldevelopment was only that of a child of 12.Further, she had always been subject to attacks ofviolent and uncontrollable passion, and was mostdifficult to manage. During the two years thathave elapsed since the operation her mental con-dition has undergone marked improvement. Theliterature of intestinal bands and kinks is nowconsiderable, but much of it is unconvincing, andMr. Corlette has remained cautious and somewhatsceptical. He believes that there is something inthe indictment against bands and kinks, but thatthere is a strong tendency to over-estimate theirimportance. He has loosened a good many bandsduring abdominal work, but beyond those ofdefinitely inflammatory origin he has not beenimpressed with their importance as a factor in theproduction of symptoms. The case now describedis an exception. He regards it as an unequivocaldemonstration of the trouble produced by a con-genital parieto-colic membrane and of the relieffollowing operation.

THE WORK OF PAVLOV.

I EARLY in the present year we published a bio-graphical notice of the distinguished Petrogradphysiologist Professor Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov, whenan erroneous report of his decease reached thiscountry, the confusion being between him andProfessor Eugeni Pavlov, a well-known surgeon.Ivan Pavlov’s existence among us, and the valueof his work, were brought into prominence lastweek, when his services to physiology formed thesubject of a public lecture by Professor W. M.Bayliss at University College, London. In tworegions of physiology Pavlov has done pioneerwork. His studies of the coordination of thedigestive processes are the better known because,though written in Russian, they have been madeaccessible to French and English readers. Pavlovwas not the first to examine the secretions of thealimentary canal by means of artificial nstulse,but he was the first to make the process a fine artby introducing into the physiological laboratory theprecise methods of antiseptic surgery. His institutein Petrograd included a series of rooms in which theexperimental animal was first washed and shaved,